It's All the Same to Me
by KaioM
Summary: Katherine is Elena is Katherine, and time travel sucks major ass.


**.:It's All the Same to Me:.**

**By: KaioM**

**Author's note: **This is my first try at a Vampire Diaries fanfiction, and since the books have long since run dry, it is going to be based on both the books and the television show. This is definitely an AU fic, and it was partly inspired by Katherine's death. Honestly though, from the moment the show started, and from the second the plot started picking up in the books, I thought this was the truth. Instead, they twisted the plot into a bicycle, and therefore, this is an AU. In this particular story, the first Petrova whatever is Katherine. Meaning, Amara and Tatia and whoever have never existed. And, just to make things less confusing, Katarina does not come into play in this story ever. To say just a little more on the subject, this is going to be AU, mostly because Katherine originally didn't love both Damon and Stefan.

Actually, no. This is going to be very AU for various reasons. Please enjoy. I don't have a beta, just so you know.

The character I have decided on for Katherine is based on the books much more than the television series, because, honestly, I happen to like book Katherine much more than television Katherine. If you skim through the first book, you'll understand more about Katherine's role in the books. But I'm using the Katherine without all the crazy added, so… Yeah.

To add one more thing, though; this story will very likely end up as a humorous one, despite the multiple horrendously depressing moments. So, do not assume that this fits into any single genre because I have a tendency to end up making crack fics no matter how much I want something dramatic.

Sorry, just one little extra chunk of information; even if most characters are based heavily off the book, Mystic Falls just sounds better than Fell's Church, so the town is called Mystic Falls.

**Summary: **Katherine is Elena is Katherine, and time travel sucks major ass.

* * *

Katherine was happy with Stefan and Damon. It was so perfect, and so nice, and who cares about your past when you're in love with someone who loves you back?

Only, there were two someone's.

Was it wrong to be so perfectly in love with more than one person?

If Damon knew, he would tell her that it was okay. He'd leave her, tell her to be happy with Stefan, and Katherine would never see him again. Just the thought of that made Katherine's heart clench painfully. She would never be able to live without Damon. Ever. Katherine would rather die than lose him.

If Stefan knew, he would tell her to choose. He'd be angry with her, very angry, and no matter how it turned out, things would never be the way they were. Katherine couldn't stand that happening; it would be too painful. She would never be able to live without Stefan. Not ever. She wouldn't wish to live if he didn't exist in her life.

Either way, Katherine couldn't think of any way for her to be able to keep either of them, much less both.

It would hurt so badly.

Damon's face appeared inside of Katherine's mind. A smile came to her face.

Stefan's face came into being beside his brother's. The smile grew larger.

An image of the brothers fighting, or leaving her, erased the happiness from Katherine.

How could she do this? How could she hurt Damon and Stefan like this? Was she that much of a selfish monster?

Katherine stared out the window, her face blank, deep in thought.

She couldn't change either of them. It would be too painful for them.

Tears built up in Katherine's eyes, slowly spilling down her face.

"Lady Katherine? Are you alright?" A warm hand on her shoulder, a concerned face to match. Damon's hand wiped the tears away from her cheeks gently. His hand took hers and pulled her up from her sitting position in the stiff mahogany chair.

"I… I am fine, Damon. Thank you for your concern."

Damon smiled at her, relieved. "Oh, good." He turned away from her a little, staring out the window to the garden outside. He turned back to her, his eyes twinkling with playful mirth. "Perhaps a walk in the garden would help your mood?"

Katherine smiled at him just a little, the sad thoughts lightening. She grinned widely at Damon, lifting her heavy skirts and sprinting away. "Come and find me, then!" Katherine shouted back, vanishing out the door and into the garden.

Damon laughed, following after her.

Under the cover of large hedges, Katherine let her smile drop. No, she couldn't have both of the brothers. She could never have Damon, because as soon as Stefan expressed his hurt over it she would lose both. She could never have Stephan because as soon as Damon left to leave them to their happiness Stefan, too, would leave, not in body but in mind.

No, Katherine decided, she could not have both brothers. She couldn't have either of them.

That night, Katherine determined to herself that she would say goodbye to both brothers. She hadn't shared blood with either of them, due to the fear of them becoming afraid of her. If Damon or Stefan reacted badly to her…

But blood sharing was the most intimate thing a vampire could do.

If she was going to lose both of them anyway, Katherine may as well throw caution to the wind and love them both one last time. The she would compel them both to forget her, to go on with their lives as though she had never existed, and Katherine could rest knowing that they would no longer be tied to her in an endless cycle. It wasn't fair to them, Katherine decided. It wasn't fair to hurt them.

Damon…

Stefan…

Katherine wished there were two of her so that she could have both.

Fate was too cruel, Katherine decided. Life was too hard.

If only life ended after death. If only there was escape for Katherine. For long after Katherine fashioned a false suicide letter for Emily, a good friend of hers who also happened to be of witch ancestry, Damon and Stefan had already attacked each other in mindless rage. Both of them were buried within the day; just another casualty caused by vampires that had once plagued Mystic Falls.

It was a painful reality, but in the council's eyes, necessary. That night, Stefan and Damon awoke in coffins, six feet underground, in transition. Within the week, both brothers were vampires, and enemies. Emily found them and soon Katherine's suicide was common knowledge.

Meanwhile, Katherine was in France, contemplating actual suicide while killing strangers and drinking enough alcohol to put herself into comas that lasted for days at a time.

She didn't know.

Katherine had no way of knowing.

When an Original compels you, the memories don't come back.

So when a man she didn't recognize called her Elena in the street over one hundred fifty years later, when she was checking on Mystic Falls for the tenth time, Katherine paid it no mind.

But, maybe, if Elijah hadn't considered himself as noble as he preferred to think he was, Katherine might have understood what was happening much, much better.

(-It's All the Same to Me-)

When Katherine arrived in Mystic Falls, she was so drunk that it was a miracle she could even walk.

People in this town had been calling her 'Elena' for as long as her stay, and to be frank, it was beginning to irritate her. Was that some kind of curse? Were they trying to frighten her?

She was Katherine Pierce! Nothing scared her. Nothing. It wasn't like anyone had anything to hold over her, anyway. The Salvatore Brothers were long since dead by now, and so was Emily. There was nothing left except her life.

Katherine wouldn't mind if someone killed her. She would do it herself, and had tried more times than she could count, but no matter how many times Katherine ripped her own heart out, starved herself, staked herself, or anything else that crossed Katherine's mind, there was no death. Just waking up the next morning feeling like shit and covered in blood.

Point is, Katherine was very drunk, and wandering around a very small town in which every single resident seemed to be calling her Elena.

Katherine who happens to be drunk as hell plus irritating people equals bad things. Naturally, a few people died and a few more people were compelled to call her Katherine.

The town had really changed over the years, Katherine noted. There were lights everywhere, and people actually put their names on their mailboxes, which, in Katherine's mind, wasn't very safe, because what if someone wants to kidnap you and doesn't know where you live until they see that perfect little mailbox that gives away all your secrets?

But, whatever. People can do what they want with their mailboxes, no matter how unreasonable or dangerous.

Katherine had been on a drunken streak for the past three days, and she was going to keep it up, because being totally out of it for consecutive days in a row without a hangover might just be the best thing in the world.

Like, really.

Best thing ever.

Because of this urge to keep up her line of drunken days, Katherine was practically dancing across town with a bottle of beer, but it might be wine, in her hand. At the moment in time that changed her life, Katherine was skipping around the high school merrily, humming to herself in her alcohol induced joy.

"Whoa, Elena, I didn't take you to be the type. Good girl gone bad, huh?" A male voice snickered lightly, and then a hand was on her arm. Katherine, her reaction time significantly dulled by drinking, glared down at the hand. When said hand didn't remove itself from her arm, she tilted her head slightly and bit it.

Not with her vampire teeth or anything. No, Katherine was going for subtle.

The male voice laughed, but Katherine did not release her grip on the hand that was still on her shoulder. The hand pulled itself up, and, thank god, got off her shoulder, but Katherine's face, still attached to the hand, was pulled up as well.

Katherine stared blankly into ice blue eyes and a face that was definitely Damon Salvatore.

Katherine blinked a couple times, then before she could stop herself brought a hand up to touch him. Damon seemed almost amused, but there was some concern in those eyes as well.

"Well, someone's feeling friendly."

Katherine ignored his words, releasing his hand. "Damon?" She murmured, still poking at his face. "Wow! Last time I saw you, I was in Italy."

She had surprising diction considering the alcohol that was swamping her body, but with over a hundred years of practice, one got quite good at speaking while drunk.

Damon raised an eyebrow at her.

Katherine sighed hugely, dropping to the ground like a rock. Unfortunately, there weren't any benches anywhere near the school, and therefore, she had collapsed onto unforgiving concrete. "I missed you, hallucination Damon. I was lonely without you." Damon sat down next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Uh, Elena, how much have you been drinking?"

Katherine decided that, since it was Damon, she'd let the 'Elena' slide. "You know, you've gotten much more with the times then you were last time I saw you. Since when did Damon wear leather? Either way, it looks good."

Damon was silent, and then he said to her, surprisingly gentle, "Stefan's looking for you."

"Let him look! Hallucination Stefan doesn't visit as much as you, anyway. I have to get really drunk and he still only shows up sometimes!" Katherine flailed her arms dramatically in anguish, spilling her beverage all over herself in the process.

"Elena-"

"That is _not_ my name!" Katherine cried fiercely, tears starting to build in her eyes. "That isn't my name!" She pounded small fists into the concrete childishly.

Damon decided his best bet was to just remain silent. He lifted her into his arms carefully, stepping down the steps that lead to the school entrance and starting toward home.

"I miss the real Damon. I wish he wasn't dead. I wish I were dead."

Damon shook Katherine a little. "I'm right here, Elena."

"No, you're not. Neither is Stefan. You're both dead by now. It's been over one hundred fifty years, after all. At least they didn't suffer, I guess. Neither of them remembered me at all, you know. I compelled them to forget. I wonder what their lives were like, once I was gone…"

Damon froze, just a little. Just a small misstep in his walk, not enough to be noticeable.

"I miss them."

"Elena, maybe you should just go to sleep." Damon said, and Katherine realized that somehow she was in a bed, and her bottle was gone.

"Mmkay, hallucination Damon… But next time, you'd better call me by my name… You're my hallucination, so you have to…"

"Alright. What's your name?"

"You should know, hallucination Damon… It's Katherine, remember?" Katherine yawned hugely, falling backwards into the pillow.

Damon's eyes became almost unbelievably wide. "What?"

There was no response from the girl on his bed.

"Elena? Elena? What did you just say?"

Damon shook her wildly, almost desperately calling out what he thought to be her name. "Elena?"

Katherine refused to respond to a name that was not her own, and eventually fell asleep. She did not wake until morning.

But by then, the secret would be out.

By then, everything will have been changed, and fate will be sealed.

No really knew her at all, did they?

* * *

**Author's note: **By the way, this is going to be a 'what if it happened this way' and a 'what if the characters were more like this' kind of thing. If you thought anyone was acting out of character, it was likely intentional on my part. Also, even if there isn't any exact point in time in which this story can fit, this is about after Stefan met Elena and Damon was introduced as a character. Meaning, little to no character development has happened at this point.

Jeremy Shane: Thank you so much! I didn't know how to spell Stefan's name, so I just guessed. I feel a little embarrassed now, but I'm really glad that you pointed that out to me before I was nearly finished with the story, because that would be very irritating and hard to fix. Thank you very much!


End file.
